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6
The Commoner
.VOLUME 8, NUMBER 43
SifSyw
The Commoner.
ISSUED WEEKLY.
WllXlAM J. URYAf
Editor and Proprietor.
IUCHAIU) Ia. Mbtcai.kk
AsRdato Editor.
CltAHI.kS W. UllYAN
rubliflhcr.
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THE COMMONER, Liricolnl.,,Neb.i,
Seems to bo quite a bad' spell 'flown ' iri
Haytlbr Haiti.
Christinas right here, and the currency is
bejtag rapidly revised. .
But, supposing everybody shopped- early
what' would be the use. ", "7,, ', '.'
i ' r'
' , ' ' i " "" " , - i '.
,, Joseph G. Cannon, "swearinc, ho wnniri
ne'er consent. cnriRonfori
, vuvwv. ri
i
There's many a slip between the l&sVand
190S memory of an oil Icing. ,' t r(, ,'v .',;,
The Tom Johnson scrap, bpoknjftillibefi
greater heritage than the milliqnsofsome men.
Speaker Cannon is so confident of an hon
est revision of the tariff that our worst fears
are confirmed.
- An Omaha burglar stole his victim's
pajamas and alarm clock. Th burglar may
learn of another alarm clock by calling.
WJiile the republicans spent nearly three
dollars to the democrats' one, they got nearer
their money's worth. Boston Herald. Perhaps.
When the time comes for President Castro
to -undergo that surgical operation he would
do well. to search the surgeon for Holland credentials.
Timothy Woodruff has withdrawn from the
New York senatorial race in favor of Elihu
Hoot. Timothy is entitled to -be known as the
Great American Withdrawer.
"President Gompers is evidently one of
those 'leaders' who haven't any following," says
the Pittsburg Gazette. The Gazette's para
rapher should get into consultation with the
Gazette's telegraph editor.
Of course those republican legislators in
Oregon who promised to vote for a democrat
for senator do not have to keep their promise.
They can exhibit themselves as plain, everyday
prevaricators devoid of honor if thoy so ghoose.
Attention is being called to tho fact that
the constitution makes no provision for the
presidential succession in case a president
elect' should die before March 4. But why
worry at this particular time? .What's the con
stitution got, to do with it as matters now
stand?
SOLVING THE "MYSTERY OF 1908"
THE SCOPE OF THE INQUIRY
In its issue of November 13, The Commoner
invited contributions to a symposium, having
for Its purpose an Inquiry Into tho causes of
the results of tho 1908 election. The Commoner
asked the co-operation of its readers in every
section of the country, submitting these
questions:
Did the democratic party make losses In
your county and precinct?
If so, to what influence were such losses
due?
"What course shall reformers adopt for
tho future?
Can tho democratic party hope ever to gain
control of the federal government?
The third Installment of this symposium Is
printed in this issue. It should be understood
that the publication of any particular opinion
does not mean that The Commoner endorses
that opinion. In order that the inquiry shall
bo thorough It will be necessary that wide scope
be given the contributors to this symposium,
and these opinions are to be printed with the
names of the writers.
For the preparation of this symposium The
Commoner must lay down certain unalterable
rules:
First, replies must be brief and to the point.
Second, tho writing must be plain. '
Third, the tone must be respectful, the lan
guage non-libelous and free from epithet al
though' the widest possible latitude will be
given for the description of the conditions that
contributed to the result and the expression of
opinion as to the future course of reformers.
Tho name of the contributor will be used.
The Commoner will continue this sympo
sium from week to week, covering sufficient
time and space in which to clear up "The Mys
tery of 1908."
"' TAMMANY'S PART
y,; Ther New York Ledger (a democratic pa
per) prints an editorial from which the fol
lowing extracts are taken:
Tho genius of Mr. Roosevelt, who has much
the same power over the American electors that
Mr. Bryan has over any audience that he faces
and who was able to change a republican panic'
that should have been a snare "for the feet of
Taft, into a formidable weapon for Taft's hand
was the chief cause of republican success. '
In Taft he had a man who really had had
unequalled administrative oppoVtunity and who
had well used it, -making followers of the most
widely different elements of the voting popula
tion; and he had the means of publicity both in
money and in newspapers to make the peonle
believe that their immediate prosperity and han
piness wiis safer through republican success thnii
through democratic elevation.
Briefly, these are the Teal reasons for Mr
Bryan's defeat, we feel. They are reasons which
apply to city and hamlet, to farm and factory
to cottage and hotel- throughout .the oS
United States, no city nor county excepted
Yet with that apparently divinelv-nrdninori
fatality which makes both death and dttraHon
"love a shining mark," the city of nw York
and Its most famous democratic organization
Tammany hall, has been singled ou f for criti
cism, not only as the most conspicuous w n
the' one and only place in the " coSSS whe
democratic leadership had not done Us full duty!
Mr. Bryan says: "If Tammany did the ber
it could, and couldn't carry th Mtv S tS!
York for the democratic national ?w L?,
questions arise." All the L' n m6?
then asks, it will be seen at onS ?55?il h?
glance, are as unnecessary as If a , ?
should say to his father- "if Ai!S0 vhIId
is a SVT W " 'tYt "h0rM
are l&L' 7 -there
county, Kings county 'and inwnty,' Quecins
-muj uuu covers only New York county. The
other three counties have their own organiza
tions, effective more or less. Tammany halt
sad as the showing was elsewhere throughout
the country did carry New York county by
Sad" Kern to thousand votes r Bryan
Tammany hall was organized before Ne
braska had been bought from France or Greater
' Y?.rk ha ?een thouat of, and its splendid
solidarity and sincerity of purpose have not even
yet been abk? to make its inspiration and ex
ample of patience and loyalty bear fruit worthy
2;wf?mxT,ls 5 organizations outside its own
habitat, New York county.
i The Ledger believes that if the other coun
ties of Greater New York had organizations as
ably managed as Tammany Hall, Mr. Bryan
would have carried this city, but this is no
time for chasing scape-goats, either in that ter
ritory of New York City which is outside Tam
many s actual control, or anywhere else over
the country where disappointment has given
birth to silly animosities and to personal and
partisan belittlement.
Others may point to the national ticket's
misfortunes in Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, or even
to Nebraska's sister western states, or yet to
the good old democratic city of Boston, where
the direct nomination system (of glorified fame
among reformers) holds sway, and which gave
a plurality of less than thirty votes for the
democratic national ticket.
The Ledger contents itself with emphasiz
ing the causes of the general defeat, as ex
plained in the first part of this article, and has
no criticism or blame for anybody.
Not only is Tammany not to blame, but it
is entitled to the thanks of the whole country,
especially to the thanks of Mr. Bryan. Stand-;
ing alone in the very heart of "the enemy's
country' giving every aid possible to the na
tional committee and taking care of its own
light single-handed; with every daily newspaper
on Manhattan island against Mr. Bryan, if we
except the insincere and chameleon-like support
given to him by the World; with Mr. Hearst un
able to help himself, but terribly powerful in
Injury to Mr. Bryan, and in aid to Mr. Bryan's
enemies; with a largo proportion of Tammany's
constituents earning their living as clerks and
other office employes and more amenable to the
same influences here that in other places hurt
grievously, and with Tammany suffering from a
parasitical growth of an office-holding class re
cently made, bearing its name but belying its
spirit yet did Tammany hold aloft and carry
to success within its territory the Bryan and
Kern banner.
Tammany, as an organization, put forth
f7?S flort t0 po11 its ful1 vote for Bryan and
p JS it under the loyal and intelligent guidance
of Charles F. Murphy and his district leaders.
Mr. Bryan asks if there is a democratic
party in New York City outside of Tammany
Jriall, and the enemies of democracy fancy that,
in the way he asks the question, they see the
shadow of a desire to have such an antagonistic
lactlon arise and receive the godspeed of the
national committee.
The Ledger answers that in New York
county, as everywhere else in the country, there
are honest independent democrats, and there
are dishonest democratic pretenders; there are
fair men and there are fakirs voting the demo
cratic ticket now and then. To give encourage
ment to the furtherance of factional" democratic
lighting .on Manhattan island, we believe was a'
blossom not of desire, but of impatience arising
irom lack of information on Mr. Bryan's part.
.. Theodore B. Slinkard, Blcfomfleld, Ind.
What course shall reformers adopt for the fu
ture? Advocate: First, Government ownership
or railroads, giving reasons; second, publicity of
campaign contributions; thir,d, postal savings
banks. Drop the issue of guaranteed banks,
ian the democratic party ever hope to gain
control of the federal government?" In one of
two ways, yes: First, by promising immunity
to the railroads and such other interests as the
railroads dominate over, or second, by the ad
vocacy of so-called "radical" measures. Not
withstanding your caution concerning brevity tho
writer will give some reasons for his position:
it Is not to be doubted that the railroads dom
inate every other organized commercial inter
est in this country, and in the end require tho
other interests to follow what they say. The
people are just beginning to learn this to be a
fact. The campaign contribution publicity plank